SAVE & SHARE THIS ARTICLE
'Couv Connections: Camping out in the ‘Couv
A year or two ago my husband and I had an epiphany. Summer after summer we’d pack suitcases, board crowded planes and travel to the sweaty, humid East Coast or spend our vacations running between air-conditioned buildings in the dry deserts of the Southwest.
Finally, after we returned from a particularly miserable trip to Washington, D.C., where our son was hit with a mild case of heat stroke and we were dazed by the oppressive crowds, we turned to each other and said, “Why do we ever leave the Pacific Northwest during the summer?”
Now, admittedly, I am not a rainaphobe. Come October I begin to crave the rain. I look forward to pots of soup, a crackling fire, and a good mystery novel. Aside from the fact that I couldn’t wear my extensive sweater collection without it, I appreciate the rain because I know what it brings: summer.
The payoff for those soggy months when we seldom see the sun is warm green days, evening breezes, and plenty of wild open spaces. I’m sure you’ve heard the boast that living in the Northwest means you can hit the beach or mountains in under two hours, but it’s much better than that. Within mere minutes of Vancouver there are a plethora of hiking trails, quick getaways, and campgrounds.
Armed with a stack of local guidebooks, my husband and I made a commitment to hike at least once a week last summer. Since we had a preschooler in tow, we aimed for shorter, kid-friendly hikes to begin with. We quickly realized how many trails like Burnt Bridge Creek and Vancouver Lake were easy to access and within minutes of our backyard.
As summer progressed we ventured further out, hiking behind waterfalls along the Columbia Gorge and camping in the Olympic National Forest. From banana slugs to bald eagles, our excursions always led to new discoveries. Sometimes our hikes were slow as we stopped along the path to examine rocks and spiders. Other times we’d scramble up the side of a mountain to see who could make it to the top first. After dusk, we’d arrive home feeling tired but completely refreshed. And the best part of the return trip for my son was seeing how much dirt he’d collected on his feet.
Rachel Fouts-Carrico, a Health Education and Child Development teacher for Washougal High School, says it’s more important than ever for kids to connect with nature.
“Children today are living in a world that goes from their house to a car or bus to school and back home again. Many children are rarely outside for any length of time, and are in engaged in activities that encourage a sedentary home-bound lifestyle like computers, cell phones, texting, video games, and television.”
Fouts-Carrico believes this generation of children is at risk for “nature deficit disorder.”
The term was coined by author Richard Louv in his book, Last Child in the Woods. Louv explores how children have become disconnected from nature. He attributes this disassociation with nature to high rates of obesity and an increase in violent behaviors.
In her work with students, Fouts-Carrico highlights the benefits of summers spent outside.
“The impact of the outdoors on children can be very beneficial,” she says. “It helps support creativity, emotional and physical development, and is a great place to relieve stress in a healthy outlet. Unstructured time in nature helps encourage children to explore, use their imagination, and their activity level increases without realizing it.
“Students can make connections between their species and others. Children tend not to be as human-centric when they spend more time outside, because they’re able to see the world through a much broader lens.”
In continuing to broaden our lens, summer vacation for my family means camping out in the ‘Couv. June, July, and August are off limits for faraway travels. We’re saving our frequent flier miles for sunny trips south in February and March. Come summer you’ll find us meandering local trails with really dirty feet.
Kate Dyer-Seeley is a mom, a writer, a coffee junkie and avid reader. Her column appears every other issue in The Voice.
Trails in Clark County
► Burnt Bridge Creek Trail
► Vancouver Lake
► Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge
► Whipple Creek
► Larch Mountain
► Moulton Falls
► Lacamas Lake
► Lewis Falls
Campgrounds Close By
► Battle Ground Lake State Park
► Beacon Rock State Park
► Swift Forest Campground
For more information on state campgrounds or to make reservations visit: www.parks.wa.gov.
Camping is also permitted in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest (Mt. St. Helens) — www.fs.fed.us/gpnf.
(Always check to see if campfires are permitted BEFORE lighting up. Fines are high and forest fire season is near!)
MOST POPULAR
Login or register to post comments
Comments (2)
We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article.
Sat, 05/23/2009 - 10:27am - Posted by: Mike Vandeman
Last Child in the Woods ––
Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder,
by Richard Louv
Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D.
November 16, 2006
In this eloquent and comprehensive work, Louv makes a convincing case for ensuring that children (and adults) maintain access to pristine natural areas, and even, when those are not available, any bit of nature that we can preserve, such as vacant lots. I agree with him 100%. Just as we never really outgrow our need for our parents (and grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.), humanity has never outgrown, and can never outgrow, our need for the companionship and mutual benefits of other species.
But what strikes me most about this book is how Louv is able, in spite of 310 pages of text, to completely ignore the two most obvious problems with his thesis: (1) We want and need to have contact with other species, but neither we nor Louv bother to ask whether they want to have contact with us! In fact, most species of wildlife obviously do not like having humans around, and can thrive only if we leave them alone! Or they are able tolerate our presence, but only within certain limits. (2) We and Louv never ask what type of contact is appropriate! He includes fishing, hunting, building "forts", farming, ranching, and all other manner of recreation. Clearly, not all contact with nature leads to someone becoming an advocate and protector of wildlife. While one kid may see a beautiful area and decide to protect it, what's to stop another from seeing it and thinking of it as a great place to build a house or create a ski resort? Developers and industrialists must come from somewhere, and they no doubt played in the woods with the future environmentalists!
It is obvious, and not a particularly new idea, that we must experience wilderness in order to appreciate it. But it is equally true, though ("conveniently") never mentioned, that we need to stay out of nature, if the wildlife that live there are to survive. I discuss this issue thoroughly in the essay, "Wildlife Need Habitat Off-Limits to Humans!", at http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/india3.
It should also be obvious (but apparently isn't) that how we interact with nature determines how we think about it and how we learn to treat it. Remember, children don't learn so much what we tell them, but they learn very well what they see us do. Fishing, building "forts", mountain biking, and even berry-picking teach us that nature exists for us to exploit. Luckily, my fort-building career was cut short by a bee-sting! As I was about to cut down a tree to lay a third layer of logs on my little log cabin in the woods, I took one swing at the trunk with my axe, and immediately got a painful sting (there must have been a bee-hive in the tree) and ran away as fast as I could.
On page 144 Louv quotes Rasheed Salahuddin: "Nature has been taken over by thugs who care absolutely nothing about it. We need to take nature back." Then he titles his next chapter "Where Will Future Stewards of Nature Come From?" Where indeed? While fishing may bring one into contact with natural beauty, that message can be eclipsed by the more salient one that the fish exist to pleasure and feed humans (even if we release them after we catch them). (My fishing career was also short-lived, perhaps because I spent most of the time either waiting for fish that never came, or untangling fishing line.) Mountain bikers claim that they are "nature-lovers" and are "just hikers on wheels". But if you watch one of their helmet-camera videos, it is easy to see that 99.44% of their attention must be devoted to controlling their bike, or they will crash. Children initiated into mountain biking may learn to identify a plant or two, but by far the strongest message they will receive is that the rough treatment of nature is acceptable. It's not!
On page 184 Louv recommends that kids carry cell phones. First of all, cell phones transmit on essentially the same frequency as a microwave oven, and are therefore hazardous to one's health –- especially for children, whose skulls are still relatively thin. Second, there is nothing that will spoil one's experience of nature faster than something that reminds one of the city and the "civilized" world. The last thing one wants while enjoying nature is to be reminded of the world outside. Nothing will ruin a hike or a picnic faster than hearing a radio or the ring of a cell phone, or seeing a headset, cell phone, or mountain bike. I've been enjoying nature for over 60 years, and can't remember a single time when I felt a need for any of these items.
It's clear that we humans need to reduce our impacts on wildlife, if they, and hence we, are to survive. But it is repugnant and arguably inhumane to restrict human access to nature. Therefore, we need to practice minimal-impact recreation (i.e., hiking only), and leave our technology (if we need it at all!) at home. In other words, we need to decrease the quantity of contact with nature, and increase the quality.
References:
Ehrlich, Paul R. and Ehrlich, Anne H., Extinction: The Causes and Consequences of the Disappearances of Species. New York: Random House, 1981.
Errington, Paul L., A Question of Values. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1987.
Flannery, Tim, The Eternal Frontier -- An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples. New York: Grove Press, 2001.
Foreman, Dave, Confessions of an Eco-Warrior. New York: Harmony Books, 1991.
Knight, Richard L. and Kevin J. Gutzwiller, eds. Wildlife and Recreationists. Covelo, California: Island Press, 1995.
Noss, Reed F. and Allen Y. Cooperrider, Saving Nature's Legacy: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. Island Press, Covelo, California, 1994.
Stone, Christopher D., Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1973.
Vandeman, Michael J., http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande, especially http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/ecocity3, http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/india3, http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/sc8, and http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/goodall.
Ward, Peter Douglas, The End of Evolution: On Mass Extinctions and the Preservation of Biodiversity. New York: Bantam Books, 1994.
"The Wildlands Project", Wild Earth. Richmond, Vermont: The Cenozoic Society, 1994.
Wilson, Edward O., The Future of Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.
Abstract:
It is anthropocentric thinking, and irresponsible, to promote the invasion of wildlife habitat without considering: (1) We want and need to have contact with other species, but neither we nor Louv bother to ask whether they want to have contact with us! In fact, most species of wildlife obviously do not like having humans around, and can thrive only if we leave them alone! Or they are able tolerate our presence, but only within certain limits. (2) We and Louv never ask what type of contact is appropriate! He includes fishing, hunting, building "forts", farming, ranching, and all other manner of recreation. Clearly, not all contact with nature leads to someone becoming an advocate and protector of wildlife. While one kid may see a beautiful area and decide to protect it, what's to stop another from seeing it and thinking of it as a great place to build a house or create a ski resort? Developers and industrialists must come from somewhere, and they no doubt played in the woods with the future environmentalists!
Sat, 05/23/2009 - 10:16am - Posted by: William Dunigan
Reading about all of this; sound's as though all are enjoying life. Like has been mentioned within this article...many have just succumbed to a dull routine life style. That is, within our own country America. I really haven't done all that much traveling nowadays as I'm now eighty one...so have slowed down to a large extent as for as traveling is concerned.
I'm a full time writer and have written three books so far. My last book, which is named: Beyond the Golden Sunset and by the Crystal Sea. Is a adventure story. One which has proven to be very interesting to both children and adults alike. I'll leave a link just in case some would want to take a peek.
Warm Regards
William Dunigan
http://www.eloquentbooks.com/BeyondTheGoldenSunsetAndByTheCrystalSea.htm...